When a snake owes a fox
by Lord Kyuubi
Summary: During the confrontation with Orochimaru in the chunin exams, Naruto's rage releases a small amount of Kyuubi's chakra. When Anko tries to fight Orochimaru the chakra breaks her curse seal and her fate is sealed because now… a snake owes a fox.
1. A new power and a new friend

Author's fun (indulge me ^.^)

Hello everyone and thank you for reading my debut into the fan fiction world!

*crickets chirping* uhhh Kyu-sama... we didn't know you'd be here, we're waiting for all the other authors.

*sweatdrops* that hurts guys

*a bright yellow flash fills the room and suddenly everyone is tied to their chair* please continue Kyu-sama, i'm sure they'll learn to love you.

Thank you so much Minato! i know they will! Please do the disclaimer so we can start

*everyone groans* Kyuubi-sama does not own Naruto and he will never make money off it... ever... he is not that good...

Baka! you aren't meant to say that!

**Summary: During the confrontation with Orochimaru in the chunin exams, Naruto's rage releases a small amount of Kyuubi's chakra. When Anko tries to fight Orochimaru the chakra breaks her curse seal and her fate is sealed because now… a snake owes a fox.**

The clang of metal on metal rang through the forest as precisely 24 gennin teams tried to kill each other all for a precious scroll so that they could get promoted. To most this would be sickening, but the people in this forest weren't most. They were ninja and didn't pay a seconds notice to the carnage surrounding them. One team in particular was having a tougher time than most. Team 7 wouldn't have had much difficulty handling another gennin team. Even a pair of Chunin would have been a manageable task as proven on their first c-rank mission. Their current opponent however, was far more powerful than a simple Chunin, he was one of the most prodigious shinobi ever to be produced by Konoha. Orochimaru of the sannin was kicking their ass with ease. He laughed at the three gennin before him. Sakura stood on a tree branch shaking like a leaf as she desperately tried not to cry from the pressure and seeing her crush getting beaten to a pulp. Said crush, Sasuke Uchiha was engaging Orochimaru in taijutsu, his sharingan allowing him to at least not die instantly, he too was frightened but held it together. Their last team mate was otherwise engaged... inside the stomach of a giant snake.

**"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" **The snake expanded to a grotesque shape before exploding in a shower of orange clad blondes who all instantly took off in the direction of his team. After a minute at top speed he came to the clearing where they were fighting. Sakura was unconscious on the ground having fainted from the sheer killing intent in the air. For once Uzumaki Naruto did not even glance at her, choosing to send in all his clones to attack the pale man Sasuke was fighting. The clones flew in from every direction to kick and punch at him, all were sidestepped without even a glance until the real one came from above.

"Gotcha!" the already moving sannin stepped neatly to the side drawing Sasuke to where he was where Naruto landed a perfect punch on hi head before crashing into the tree branch they were on.

"Dobe! look where you're going," Orochimaru rushed forward to engage Sasuke again who quickly weaved hand seals.

**"Katon: Gogakyu no jutsu" **a fire ball spilled out of his mouth forcing Orochimaru to retreat and give Naruto time to recover.

"Yes, show me more jutsu Sasuke-kun, ku ku ku ku ku." The serpentine man shot forward. So did Naruto.

"Now, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he launched into a flurry of attacks that were blocked.

**"Katon: Housenka no jutsu" **Five smaller fireballs were launched at Orochimaru. He laughed and performed a seal-less jutsu that launched water shots cancelling out the fire before catching the shuriken hidden inside them.

"You have to do much better than that, ku ku ku," with a puff of smoke each shuriken transformed into a Naruto clone. The first one landed an uppercut to Orochimaru's jaw launching him into the air. The other four clones jumped up to follow him landing landing three kicks. Each clone shouted out a different phrase.

"U" "ZU" "MA" "KI!" until the final clone appeared above Orochimaru and sent him crashing into the ground with a vicious ax kick and a shout of,

"UZUMAKI RENDAN!" Orochimaru crashed into the ground with blood leaking from his cracked skull and his eyes glazed over, before the entire body turned into mud.

"Ku ku ku, I must admit, I am impressed, not many gennin can the drop on me, even a clone. I think you have proven worthy of my little gift." His neck suddenly extended and his head shot towards Sasuke's neck. As his teeth sank into Sasuke's jugular, Sasuke nearly vomited for two reasons. First, he was disgusted by the knowledge that such a vile man currently had his mouth anywhere near him. Second, the pain was absolutely unbearable. His neck was on fire and he could feel it coursing through his veins, burning away the sanity in him and changing him at a base level. Finally the pain became too much and he fell to the ground clutching his neck in a fit of spasms. Naruto growled in anger and turned to Orochimaru, his eyes seemed to flicker briefly from his ocean blue eyes to a chilling and malicious red.

**xXxXx**

Elsewhere in the forest Mitarashi Anko was desperately racing towards the most powerful chakra signature she could feel. Her teacher was here, she couldn't believe it. After all these years she was finally going to be able to kill him and redeem herself. She had dreamed of this moment ever since her abandonment at the hands of that monster and now racing through the god forsaken training ground 44, her dream was to become reality.

**xXxXx**

"What did you do to Sasuke?" Naruto's eyes began flickering between his natural blue and demonic scarlet.

"I merely gave him a gift Naruto-kun, he will wake up much stronger than before. I would give you the same thing but i'm afraid Kyuubi's chakra is far too potent to be controlled by my seal. It would never work, i'll have to make do with you following dear Sasuke into my clutches." Orochimaru chuckled shortly but suddenly stopped when he felt an ominous presence. Turning back to face Naruto he became both excited and even slightly afraid. His eyes weren't flickering anymore, the Kyuubi was slowly escaping.

**"You teme! I'll make you pay for touching him! Acting like his life doesn't even matter." **Kyuubi's chakra flowed around him like a shroud and a single chakra tail waved behind him. Naruto launched forward much faster than before, the moment of surprise allowed him to get a solid punch into Orochimaru's jaw but he quickly recovered and counter attacked.

**xXxXx**

Anko could feel the chakra signature of her former sensei getting close when she suddenly felt another presence that made her blood run cold.

Suddenly a mini one tailed Kyuubi burst into view as it was sent flying past and crashed into a tree. Naruto got up and spat blood wiping his mouth on his torn sleeve.

"Naruto! get out of here now, I'll take Orochimaru, he's way out of your league even with the Kyuubi helping you!" Anko barked the order at him.

"I'm not going anywhere," Naruto shouted in reply, he was about to attack again when he felt an iron grip on his arm and was thrown far away, landing next to Sakura who had woken up, sensing the Kyuubi's killing intent. She quickly picked him up and ran over to the recovering Sasuke. Together they ran away from the fight now thoroughly humbled by the sannin's power.

Anko however was now gritting her teeth at the intense pain travelling from her hand to the rest of her body. Her blood boiled, her nerve endings were on fire and her eyes watered as she tried to stop herself from sobbing. Kyuubi's chakra was coursing through her system even the single brief contact with Naruto had been enough for it to leap to her, the poisonous chakra invading her body. She didn't know it but the chakra was so toxic that it was burning away all the impurities in her body, burning away anything that wasn't protected by her own chakra. Then it encountered the cursed seal of heaven. The cursed seal instantly activated at the presence of the foreign chakra, breaking through all the suppression seals surrounding it and attempting to expel the toxic chakra. However the seal did not know what it was up against. Kyuubi's chakra consumed the vile seal in seconds before completely obliterating the opposing chakra freeing Anko without even meaning to.

Anko collapsed on the ground phasing in and out of consciousness as she clawed at the fading ink on her neck tears streaming from her eyes. Orochimaru's eyes widened as he took in the scene before him, the unexpected reaction taking place both intrigued and even frightened him. The fact that the Kyuubi's chakra, powerful as it was could so easily overpower his masterpiece creation was scary to the sannin. He briefly considered killing Anko right now while she was vulnerable but the scientist inside him was curious as to how much this would do to her. Additionally he always did have a certain twisted fondness for the tortured child and would hate to see the effort he put into shaping her as a ninja go to waste, even if it was for his former village. Instead he gave one final warning before leaving her to be found by ANBU.

"Don't cancel the exams, the results may be most unpleasant for all of you, especially Sasuke-kun." With that he left as she slipped into blissful unconsciousness.

**xXxXx**

Naruto sat up in a regrettably familiar environment. The floor was covered in water and the halls looked like that of a sewer, the mind of the Uzumaki was not a pleasant place to be at all. He walked up to Kyuubi's cage.

"Why am I here? What the hell happened back there...? Answer me baka fox!" As soon as the insult escaped his lips a massive paw slammed into the cage effectively silencing Naruto. The fox's face came into view, a single glaring eye as large as Naruto himself.

**"You are here because you are weak, what happened back there was you were weak and i will not answer you... because you are weak. My chakra is the most potent force on this earth and yet you get beaten in seconds even with it under your command, your rage was pathetic and of no concern to that cursed snake. You are the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune and yet the Ichibi laughs at you."**

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? I'm an awesome nin-"

**"YOU ARE PATHETIC! and i will stand for it no more! If i am to spend the rest of my days until i die with you taken along by this damn seal then i will not be contained by the most hare brained shinobi to ever live. I cannot allow you to die before you have even killed, i refuse to die here and so I need time to break this seal meaning i need you alive for now so that i can taste the thrill of spilled blood once again."**

"Well then what are you gonna do about it baka fox? You're stuck in that cage and i'm all the way out here so you can't do jack shit." Naruto burst out laughing, you say i'm pathetic but you can't beat that can yo-" He was cut off mid sentence once again, this time by the large rush of chakra that swept past the bars of the cage straight towards him. Naruto panicked causing him to trip and fall to the ground, the chakra quickly surrounded him and encased him in a cocoon.

**"You may not know it now but you will thank me for this when you wake." **Naruto's last thought before the pain sent him into true sleep was _'I fucking doubt that.'_

**xXxXx**

Naruto cracked open his eyes blearily, trying to take in the scene around him. The painful white of the walls around told him where he was lying and the headache that was splitting his skull apart told him the rest. The machines around him beeped steadily telling him he was mostly okay and confirming that he was sitting in the medical wing of the tower. There were various notes wishing him well on the table beside him. Even more noticeable was the ANBU guard around the room but he didn't pay particular attention to any of that. Naruto had eyes only for the straps holding him firmly in place on the table with no room to move at all.

"What the hell is going on here!" he shouted at the ANBU as he tried to escape his restraints. "Why am i tied up?" an ANBU with a rabbit mask merely nodded at another bearing an ox mask. The ox masked one left immediately in a silent shunshin before the rabbit masked one turned back to him.

"Calm down Uzumaki-san, the Hokage is on his way and he will explain everything. The bindings are... a precaution to help make our job easier and keep you safe from yourself." Naruto continued to glower but did not put up much fuss at the mention of his jiji coming. The blonde sat and waited for a few minutes glaring straight ahead. With his head tied he couldn't look anywhere else. the Sandaime entered the room unexpectedly followed by Anko. The Hokage greeted him with warm smile and a friendly greeting.

"It is good to see you awake Naruto-kun, untie him please captain." The rabbit masked ANBU stepped forward and released the blonde who stood up immediately. That's when he looked down and saw something completely wrong with his body, he looked like he was in his prime, his hospital gown did little to conceal the muscle bound chest that now comprised his torso.

"What happened to me?! I look like I'm in my twenties now!" Naruto frantically looked up and down himself observing his new bell and trying to get used to the sight.

"Naruto calm down please, we will explain everything if you just take a seat." Naruto sat down and took a few deep breaths to calm himself before looking up at his jiji, eyes pleading for an explanation. As he looked at Hiruzen he also noticed Anko staring at him, it was an odd expression, a mixture of disbelief, awe, overwhelming gratitude and was that... lust? The look confused him briefly but Sarutobi chose that moment to begin speaking.

"Okay here's what we know, half a day after Orochimaru knocked you out your team arrived here at the tower dragging you behind them looking half dead. We rushed you to the medical wing and the medics began to treat you for chakra burns. That's when it happened, Kyuubi's chakra started going crazy and you began thrashing around uncontrollably, the medics had to strap you down so that you didn't hurt anyone including yourself. The chakra continued though swirling around and your body began changing rapidly, growing older and stronger. You finally settled down a couple of hours ago and now we're here. As far as we can tell there are no harmful effects. You have more chakra, you are stronger, more resilient and even your brain is more developed. It's as if you just spent 12 years training hard and are now beginning your prime." Turning away he briefly muttered something under his breath along the lines of "lucky bastard." Suddenly Kyuubi's voice rang through Naruto's head.

**"Naruto, listen here and listen well I don't have much time, I am using my residual chakra left in your system to talk so don't get used to it, it's a onetime thing. I directed my chakra to changing your body this way, no longer will I be at risk of being killed because my container is weakling like you were. Your body is at its strongest now but there's more, I have also planted knowledge in your head, you have abilities on par with even that lazy sensei of yours and jutsu ability to match. Your shinobi instincts have been tuned and your speed and accuracy have also shot up but DON'T GET LAZY! You may have this now but you must maintain it and there is ALWAYS room for improvement, do allow yourself to fall into weakness." **Kyuubi's voice faded with those final words and Naruto could tell the connection was broken. He looked up, pale as a ghost and somewhat uncomprehending. Turning to Sarutobi he spoke.

"Kyuubi talked to me, he said there's more to it than what you told me. Apparently he gave me 12 years worth of training my mind as well so now I'm smarter and better than before, this is gonna take some getting used to." Now that Kyuubi had told him he could indeed feel the difference in his mind, he saw things differently and could think more clearly than ever before.

"What? Kyuubi spoke to you? I'm not sure i trust him Naruto, as good as this seems i think we should do some testing before the next exam begins, please meet me at the training dojo in two hours when you're a bit more rested." With that he swept out of the room and the ANBU quickly followed suit. Naruto made to leave as well but was quickly stopped by Anko's hand on his shoulder spinning him around and all of a sudden a pair of lips crashed into his making his eyes widen in shock. Taking his moment of shock Anko made sure to deepen the kiss and slip her tongue into his mouth. This served to wake him up though and he gently pushed her away from him still sporting a confused expression.

"What was that for?" At this the playful grin Anko had been sporting disappeared and was replaced by something similar to grudging thanks.

"It was to say thank you brat you have no idea what you did for me in that forest... you freed me from Orochimaru, for the first time in years i can stop looking behind and focus ahead." She muttered the last part to herself.

"What do you mean by that?" She seemed to consider the question for a bit before deciding he deserved an answer. So she began to explain everything that had happened in her life, from the moment that she had become the snake sannin's apprentice, to mere hours ago when Naruto had broken the curse seal and his hold on her forever. Naruto found himself following the story with rapt attention as he couldn't help but see so many similarities between his life and her's, the only difference was her life had been twice as long so far. By the time her story was done the two hours before his spar were nearly up and Anko seemed a little downcast as she thought of all the horrible things that had happened throughout her life. Her playful grin came back suddenly and she dropped Naruto a sly wink and a smirk.

"So now you understand the kiss, now you know just how much I owe you for what you did and i don't think I'll ever be able to pay this debt back," she said as she sidled up to him in a sultry manner somewhat unnerving him. Yet he did understand. He understood perfectly how she felt and all he had to do was imagine what it would be like if someone took the Kyuubi out of him, it would be instant adoration. At the same time he was a little unsure of what to do about this curvy and beautiful kunoichi getting as far into his personal space as she could, hearing her story he couldn't help but now genuinely care for her in a way only someone like them could and so her getting so close was getting him a bit worked up.

"I think I do know Anko, i know exactly how you feel actually." He smiled at her and hugged her in consolation. She seemed shocked for a moment before she leaned into the hug and enjoyed the warmth he radiated. The move had surprised her somewhat, most guys she had gotten this physically close to would try for a lot more than a hug. They all quickly found them self in a bloody mess on the ground when they tried funny business like that but Naruto just wanted to comfort her, it was incredible. Thinking about this she leaned up and passionately kissed him again. Naruto was only slightly less taken aback this time around and still couldn't do anything but enjoy it until she broke it off.

"What was that one for?" he asked with a confused look.

"That time it was for being understanding and not trying anything, i'd probably be willing to do anything for you right now but you didn't try anything at all," her grinned broadened until it was both scary but also quite enticing as she added, "plus your new body makes you pretty hot, i bet you're a stud now." Naruto just stuttered wordlessly at that and her grin threatened to split her face with how wide it grew when she got this reaction out of him. "You should get to the dojo, you don't want to be late for the Hokage's test. Satisfied with her 'win' over him she sauntered off swaying her hips invitingly for him as she left to complete her proctor duties. She looked over her shoulder and called out to him just before she was out of sight, "and remember Naruto-kun, any time you need me... I'll be there from now on." Naruto nodded his thanks and left to find the dojo for his test not noticing his own smile as all he could think about now was that he was very much looking forward to the next time he'd see Anko already thinking about something he wanted to ask her to do, because now... a snake owes a fox.

**xXxXx**

And that's the end of my first ever chapter. I hope you enjoyed this as much as i enjoyed writing it, special thanks to Digitize27 for his help and advice in establishing Naruto's age change and giving me some suggestions as to how to break Anko's curse seal. I will be updating this story hopefully once a week so if you enjoyed do not worry there will be updates coming fast. Yes Kyuubi will be back just not through a mental link like in some fics, i find it slightly unrealistic that some people portray him as apologetic and helpful to Naruto so i hope you found my portrayal of him realistic.

Other than that i welcome PM's and encourage you to review my story... seriously, review.

Until next week, Kyuubi out.


	2. So many tests, so little time

Hello readers and welcome to my second chapter of 'When a snake owes a fox' Thank you to all those so far who have followed/favourited my story already, that really encourages me to write. I'm so sorry about my chapter being later than I said but I kept getting side-tracked by visiting people as I am on holidays now. Hopefully my next chapter will be up within my self-imposed week time frame.

Other than that thank you guys so much for all your reviews as well on top of those who followed/favourited feedback really helps me improve my work which in the end can only improve the story for you guys so I love it when you help me out like that. Particular hat tips go to...

Rickjames 196  
>plums<br>microzombie and  
>SleepinEdwin for their more involved reviews but again id still like to thank all others who voiced their opinions and asked for more.<p>

Also an extra special thanks to Digitize27 for agreeing to beta for me, he has some awesome stories so you should definitely go check out his profile and read them, my personal faves are 'Small changes' and 'Sage'

Today we have Kakashi here to do my disclaimer... Kakashi... psst you're up.

Hm? Did you say something?

Just put down the book and do the disclaimer for them.

Oh, well. Kyuubi-sama does not own my cute little student Naruto or the series based on him other wise Sakura would be dead by now... hey why hasn't that happened yet? How has she survived?

*Sheepishly herds Kakashi off the stage* Hehe... he... i wouldn't kill Sakura *cough* Begin the chapter!

**xXxXx**

Naruto entered the dojo and nervously looked around feeling rather self conscious as all the ANBU stared at him. Hiruzen gave him a comforting smile and gestured for him to step forward. The dojo was rather plain, a timber floor covered in scuff marks and gauges from countless training sessions past. The walls were thick concrete so as to survive jutsu and hard impacts without needing to be repaired every time. Naruto took this in even as the Hokage began to speak to him.

"Naruto, we are going to be testing your new level through a monitored spar. As you were on the verge of becoming Chuunin level before your transformation i hazarded a guess that you are now maybe low Jounin level. As such i found a tokubetsu (**A/N:**special, in this case meaning Jounin level in one are but only high Chuunin in others) Jounin for you to fight. Genma please take your position ready for the duel." An average looking man with brown hair and a dull expression on his face stepped up opposite to Naruto as he chewed the tip of senbon and took up a stance. Naruto looked at him nervously before he instinctively slipped into the stance Kyuubi had put in his head.

It was strange to him though, his mind knew it but his muscles did not and so he made errors and the awkwardness was putting him off. He finally settled but there were still errors, looking to Hiruzen he waited. Hiruzen looked back with a frown at his new stance, it was unrecognizable and that was strange to the aged Hokage. He was know as the professor for a reason and there were not very many styles he did not know about, the fact that Kyuubi had given Naruto one meant it was probably ancient beyond belief. Putting these thoughts aside for later he instead began to list the rules of the match.

"The rules are as follows, no killing or permanent damage that would put Naruto out of the Chuunin exams, weapons are allowed and the winner is whoever i declare or the last man standing after the other can no longer continue for any reason. If i call the match you are to stop immediately. Other than that you are to both do your very best so that i can come to an accurate conclusion about Naruto's new level." Both men nodded at each of the rules as Naruto continued to shift uncomfortably in his stance.

The Hokage then chopped his arm down and shouted out "Hajime!" as he leaped back to avoid their opening blows. The two opposing shinobi did not rush in as Naruto would have only yesterday, instead his instincts held him back.

**"Kage bunshin no jutsu"**he said calmly and five clones appeared around him. Three rushed at Genma to test him who had also held back waiting to see what new strength Naruto may now possess. He observed the incoming clones with a smirk knowing they would not trouble him much. They were fast but didn't seem to know how to go about using their speed. The first one over shot him and completely missed with a punch as he stumbled trying to slow down. Genma took advantage of this and quickly tripped the clone which popped on impact with the ground.

The next clone fared a little better but still could not control itself, it ran straight into Genma and rather embarrassingly ended up dispelling when it stabbed itself on the senbon hanging out of the Jounin's mouth. Genma sweatdropped at this and almost wasn't ready for the third clones more controlled approach but still managed to fend of the the rushed punch it threw grunting at the impact on his arm as he blocked and quickly countered. What did surprise him though was when the clone dodged him. Unfortunately for the clone it too was surprised and jerked too far to the right putting off balance and vulnerable to Genma's follow up strike to the chest which dispelled him.

Naruto grimaced at Genma's practiced taijutsu and threw a single kunai hard at his head followed by summoning a clone and speeding forward at a more controlled pace than his clones, the two others from his previous conjuring of five were conspicuously unseen but Genma had no time to think about that. The Jounin lifted a kunai of his own and blocked the incoming projectile only for it to emit a puff of smoke and reveal another Naruto who quickly launched a second kunai following it up with a punch. Genma was briefly surprised by this tactic but was a Jounin for a reason, he dodged the kunai and blocked the punch once again grunting at the strength behind it before nicking the clones hand with his own blade still clenched in his fist dispelling it. The second kunai then also changed with a puff of smoke revealing a grinning Naruto who launched a kick at his head. Genma ducked and spun on his heel but Naruto got a strike in on his torso before he could complete the spin knocking him back a step and bruising his ribs.

Genma made to strike him back but then the real Naruto and his other clone closed in and got a double strike in on his exposed back knocking the wind out of him and breaking his guard allowing the first clones right hook to nail him square in the jaw and send him tumbling away only to roll to his feet looking much more alert than at the beginning of the spar as he took in Naruto with wariness in his eyes. Sarutobi was fascinated by the fight, previously Genma's far superior speed would have allowed him to avoid all of the attacks with room to spare despite Naruto's effective tactics and even if he had landed a hit Naruto would not have been strong enough to cause him any serious harm. Now however Naruto was dominating the fight using his new found strength and speed despite him apparently having to slow down to be able to keep in control.

Genma decided to take the initiative this time and not let Naruto plan like he had just then. This time he threw kunai at Naruto's right side and lunged at his left just as fast as Naruto had but when Genma stopped he was still in complete control of his movements so when Naruto dived into his strike the Jounin was able to land a precise hit to first his solar plexus to knock the wind out of him and then one to his temple stunning him briefly followed by a powerful kick to his right side compressing his ribs and once more making breathing difficult for the Chuunin hopeful. When he tried to press his advantage Naruto managed to throw up a guard and soften the blow allowing him to recover his breath a bit and back up as his clones leapt in to try and give him more time to recover.

This time Genma was prepared for their increased strength and was fast enough to grab the first ones wrist and throw him into the second make them both poof out of existence before turning and catching the thirds fist, this one proved slightly more prepared and grabbed Genma's hand before leaping up and kicking at his head. The skilled ninja ducked this however and used the hand the clone was grabbing to throw the clone into the ground ending his brief life. By now Naruto had recovered somewhat from the previous assault and charged at Genma slightly faster than before having received his clones experience with increased speeds and using the extra experience to just slightly raise his controllable limit.

The real Naruto came up behind Genma with a quick punch to his head that the Special Jounin ducked and spun around legs outstretched to sweep out Naruto's legs. The less experienced Genin was caught and tripped up but his reflexes allowed him to catch himself and manouver to deliver a thrusting kick to Genma's chest catching him by surprise and overbalancing him. Both were quick to recover from their awkward positions and sped together again. Genma threw a punch at Naruto's throat but the Genin suddenly dropped low and spear tackled the surprised Jounin to the ground before manoeuvring to straddle him and grabbing his arms. Naruto's new strength and weight alloed him to keep the normally larger Jounin pinned beneath him. He pulled his head back to headbutt him and knock him out to win the match but as his neck came into view Genma used a minor seal-less wind jutsu to spit the senbon in his mouth right into Naruto's neck where it hit an exposed pressure point and knocked him out, the point blank range and Genma's skill as a marksmen allowing him the accuracy required.

Naruto slumped to the ground unconscious allowing Genma to get up and bow to Sarutobi as he called the match in the Jounin's favour. Genma then removed his senbon from Naruto's neck, refraining from chewing it again in favor of retrieved a clean one and placing that between his teeth. An ANBU then pressed a few pressure points to wake the Genin up who immediately stood and glanced around.

"The match is over Naruto-kun, Genma won by knockout. Your performance was most impressive however. Currently i would put you at a high chunin level, you displayed amazing increase in physical ability but also showed that you are not in full control of your strength and speed. Your taijutsu style has improved as well but you are obviously currently not comfortable with it yet, this will come with practice however and has great potential. You dominated the fight with well thought out tactics and used the element of surprise to your advantage when your opponent underestimated you. You showed proficiency with the Kage bunshin and Henge but other than that your jutsu repertoire is sorely lacking and needs urgent attention. Fortunately Kakashi is already your sensei and is our best equipped Jounin to handle this problem, i will talk to him and ask him to fix this in the one month break between now and the finals."

"But didn't we fail the exam Jiji?" Naruto asked with a confused expression. "we didn't get both scrolls so we can't have passed."

"This is true and i hope this does not show favoritism but i am giving you a pass anyway. The terms of the Chunin exams **definitely** do not state that Genin will be fighting sannin level missing nin and so an exception has been made as no other team had to face such a challenge making it an invalid test resulting in an automatic pass." Naruto nodded in understanding with a grin on his face at hearing he would be allowed to continue in the exams.

"Congratulations on passing and well done here. Your skills were better than expected but with time to gain experience using them you will be able to compete on a much higher level than high Chunin or low Jounin. I expect you to work hard to do that though. Meet with your team until you are all called to the arena at the end of the second test, your team has already been told of you passing, you're dismissed."

With that Naruto bowed to Genma and thanked him for the great match before exiting the dojo.

**xXxXx**

As he stepped out of the training room he instantly jerked to his right when a kunai sailed at his left cheek missing by a mere few inches.

"Awww i like it better when you bleed, get's me all hot and bothered." a sickly sweet voice called out to him. Naruto looked to see Anko smirking at him and twirling a second kunai around her finger. She sauntered up to him swaying her hips until she was right up next to him and pressed her body against him. "Don't you want me to get all hot and bothered Naruto-kun? I thought you'd be all for that."

By now Naruto's pants were getting uncomfortably tight and he was feeling very fidgety as this very attractive woman that he also had strong feelings for openly flirted with him. Despite his now physically mature body and his advanced mind he was still a 13 year old in his head and a situation like this was always going to be awkward for him.

"He he he h-hi A-Anko-chan uh whatcha doin' there? All hot and bothered? D-Do you need to take your coat off and cool down?" He asked oblivious to the fact that he had accidentally suggested she strip for him and considering her lack of apparel beneath it would be all the more sexual if she were to 'take her coat off'. Her smirk turned into a full blown grin at the reaction she got out of him.

"Straight to the point eh Naruto-kun? Are you sure we shouldn't go to a more private area if you want a show? Anyone could walk in on us here and that could be pretty embarrassing for both of us." She was teasing of course but it was hard to resist when he started blushing so hard that he nearly fainted from the blood overload.

Somewhere in the forest surrounding them a shy girl with pale eyes sneezed and had the sudden urge to cry as if something very important was being stolen from her.

Back with Naruto he was desperately trying to retain any semblance of his image he could as Anko quickly reduced him to a stuttering, blushing mess of raging hormones. Seeing this Anko couldn't resist finishing him off so she leaned up as if to kiss him but as their lips made contact she pressed herself up against him making sure her navel rubbed the bulge in his pants. Feigning shock she leaned down to stare at it.

"Jeez maybe you do wanna get caught, is this turning you on?" She asked as if she didn't know the whole thing had gotten him extremely worked up. Going for the killing blow she poked at the bulge as if in wonder and was rewarded when Naruto promptly collapsed unconscious with a stain spreading across the front of his new black pants.

"Did he just?" Anko asked herself out loud before rolling on the floor cackling with laughter at his predicament. "We're are really gonna have to work on that later if he wants to be able to have any fun at all." She then grabbed him by the leg and started carelessly dragging him to his room whistling a happy tune as if she had not a care in the world. Thinking over it, with her curse seal gone and a fun not so little Genin keeping her entertained, she didn't.

**xXxXx**

The remaining time left before the end of the second exam passed quickly and mostly without incident. After Anko had dragged him back to his room Naruto woke up showered and in just his boxers. After passing out again at the implications of his state of dress Naruto finally got up and quickly got dressed in the new clothes provided for him.

*Flashback*

First he pulled on a pair of long black pants made of a tough material similar to Kevlar but not quite. They basically looked like cargo pants though and were lined with pockets for ease of use. Next he slipped on a tight fitting dark red shirt that was still loose enough to move around in and didn't embarrass him by looking like spandex. Following that were a pair of black finger less gloves with plates on the back that he recognized were the same as Kakashi's. A pair of black boots with steel caps in the toes were next and completing the look was a heavy looking black trench coat that came down to mid calf that had a note pinned on it.

He quickly read the note and grinned. It was from Anko and simply said 'You get to see me looking all hot in mine so i get to see you in this one. P.S if i ever see you wear orange again your balls are mine and not in the fun for you way.' It was signed with a little chibi drawing of Anko throwing dango stick senbon at him. He was a bit confused about the threat not really knowing what she meant but he had to admit it did look good on him and was much more practical for camouflage than his old jumpsuit. His new knowledge of how shinobi are meant to operate told him that they were better for his career but he still couldn't help shedding a quick tear at the loss of his beloved orange jumpsuits. In the end he decided that he would change the shirt to bright orange and ask Anko what she meant by 'taking his balls' later.

Next to the ensemble were a collection of weights that he concealed beneath his clothing. These also came with a note but this time from the Hokage. 'These weights will help greatly with your new training and allow you to become even faster and stronger now that your body is fully grown and you can use them safely. For now they will also slow you down slightly to speeds you can handle. Consider them an early present for promotion'. The note also explained how they could be activated and turned off by the use of chakra so that he didn't have to fumble around with his clothing mid fight. It also told him that he was ordered to operate under henge until the exams finished to hide all of his changes even around his team mates. At this his smile dropped slightly but he understood the reasoning and quickly henge'ed back into his old look before walking out to greet his team.

*End flashback*

Now all the Genin were assembled in the main arena for the next stage of the exams. The seven teams all waited for the next exam to begin with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Team 7 was mostly rearing to go, Naruto was excited to try out his new power against others his age, Sasuke was also eager to test his power against the other Genin but Sakura was nervous and worried about Sasuke.

Teams 8 and Team 3 (for those who do not know that is the official number for Team Guy) were fairly well off and looking forward to the next challenge, Kiba and Lee were especially excited. Team 10 less so seeing as 33% of them were Shikamaru. The team from Sand were reserved but for the manic glint in Gaara's eye. The Oto team looked bloodthirsty in their own right though not to the extent of Gaara and finally Kabuto's team may as well have been statues.

The Hokage stepped forward and spoke about how these exams were a substitute for war whilst still determining the strength and rankings of each of the villages. As he began to explain the third exam a Tokubetsu Jounin dropped down and coughed though none could tell if it was from sickness or to politely interrupt.

"Hokage-sama, if i may i would like to please take over from here as proctor of the third exam. Sarutobi looked a little embarrassed at having been caught rambling on though none of the Genin caught onto the fact.

"Of course Hayate-san" he said and backed away to observe.

"Thank you Hokage-sama. Now the third exam will be a single combat tournament style event held in front of the village and any nobles or potential clients that choose to attend. Due to the somewhat short attention span of most civilians we are only able to have a limited number of contenders in the actual tournament which will take place one month from now. To ensure that we keep to this limited number and are able to finish the tournament in a timely fashion we will now hold preliminary matches among the Genin here. The winner's of these matches will compete in the tournament and have the chance to show their skills and try and prove they are worthy of the rank, Chunin. Before we begin is there anyone who would like to withdraw now due to injuries or any other reason?"

Kabuto raised his hand and began to walk out of the arena escorted by a Chunin guard to help guide him out of the forest.

"Very well. Rules of the fight are as follows, killing is allowed if unavoidable but i will attampt to prevent this. You fight until one contestent is either unconscious or unable to continue, if i call the match one way or another all fighting is to cease immediately, failure to comply will result in disqualification and your immediate removal from the exams. If you could please turn your attention to the screen above and behind me the matches will be randomised and we will begin the preliminaries, if your name appears please stay here, if not move to the viewing area above us. "

All the Genin raised their heads to look at the screen and waited to see if they would be fighting. As the screen flickered they all waited anxiously before it finally settled on two names one of which stirred mild interest if only for the family name.

"First match is Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado, please remain here and all others move to the balcony."

The Genin complied and the two opponents faced each other taking their stances

The third test of the Chunin exams had just begun.

**xXxXx**

Wow that was way more difficult to write than the previous chapter and again i'm so sorry for the wait, i know it's not long in terms of Fanfics but i promised a week so my bad. The difficult part was the fight between Naruto and Genma, getting Naruto's strength where i wanted it was challenging, obviously i didn't want him overpowered as that would just ruin it but if you get Kyuubified you want a bit of an upgrade so getting the fight to show he's stronger but has just gone insta-Kakashi was hard.

Other than that i think it's going well, i hope you liked the interaction between Naruto and Anko, i just love them together and Anko is really fun to write, don't worry if you think im just gonna keep teasing though it wont take them forever to get together but it won't be until after the Chunin exams are done.

Next up is the prelims and the first bit of the training month, i have a few surprises in store for the training month so i'm looking forward to that.

Also just to let you guys know now i don;t really want to draw out the prelim fights as i find them boring and hard to write as they will mostly follow canon but if you have a problem with that just say something in a review and if i get a strong enough response i'll write in the fights.

As always i encourage reviewing, i love talking to all you guys and the reviews i got for the first chapter were really encouraging.

Until next time, Lord Kyuubi.


	3. A display of power and a new opponent

Hello readers and welcome to Chapter 3

We now begin the boring preliminaries but will also be starting the much more interesting one month training arc

Thanks to microzombie and LookOutReader for your especially helpful reviews and extra thanks to microzombie who agreed to bet this chapter for me, he was a real help so you should all thank him for making it better too. Also a minute of silence for poor Digitize27 who unfortunately couldn't beta due to a massive hangover, on ya mate and party hard!

Here is Anko with our disclaimer.

Lord Kyuubi does not own Naruto-kun in any way, that little gaki is mine now *chuckles evilly*

Calm down Anko, it won't be too long before you get your fun, just please don't kill us.

Awwwww is wittle Kyuubi-kun scared? Don't worry, just keep letting me have fun teasing and you'll be fine.

Hehehe well you don't need to worry about that! they're way to fun to stop. Begin the Chapter!

**xXxXx**

Sasuke panted as he looked down at his defeated opponent. It had been tough without chakra but superior taijutsu had won out in the end and he had managed to win without activating the curse seal on his neck. He walked up the stairs to join his team on the balcony and Kakashi gave him an approving look.

"Well done Sasuke"

"Yeah Sasuke-kun you're the best!"

"..."

The entire team looked expectantly to Naruto who was just staring down as Shino and Zaku took their places opposite each other. Noticing their stares he looked over.

"Oh, yeah good job Sasuke that was great." At this Sasuke and Sakura became very confused. Usually their boisterous tem mate would take any opportunity he could to try and either start a fight or be friends with Sasuke, this new apathetic attitude was strange. Kakashi was more understanding, the Hokage had informed him of Naruto's changes and Kakashi knew what was really going on. Naruto wasn't ignoring his team, he was analyzing the next fight. His now keen eyes observed the stances of the two combatants and making sure he missed nothing in case he had to fight one of them in the future.

"Sasuke, come with me and i will help you with that seal, now that your fight is over i can seal it away" Kakashi said even as he continued staring at Naruto. The pair left to find a room where Kakashi could perform the evil sealing technique. Down below the fight began. It didn't last long, Shino quickly orchestrated his bugs to attack from Zaku's blind spot where his melody arm would be of no help. Despite Zaku revealing he had both arms available Shino had already clogged them both and the resulting pressure made short work of destroying both arms ending the fight.

The other fights all followed suit, ending quickly when one opponent outsmarted the other, few actually won with brute force. Kankuro defeated Misumi by replacing himself with a puppet. Ino against Sakura dragged out for some time and was one of the few where no one bothered to employ tactics. The pathetic fight that more closely resembled a brag off resulted in a double knockout where neither kunoichi progressed. Many breathed a sigh of relief, not out of worry that they were a threatening opponent but that Konoha would not be embarrassed by displaying them in front of clients and nobles. Tenten lost out to Temari, both were respectable fighters but the poor match up resulted in an easy win for Temari who used wind jutsu to render Tenten's weapons useless. Shikamaru achieved an embarrassing win over Kin by forcing her to knock herself out on a wall.

The first fight of real note since Sasuke's admittedly impressive taijutsu only win was Naruto against Kiba. On any other day this would have been a tight match up but now Naruto was far above Genin level and the fight was heavily in his favour for the entire match. It began with the both of them walking down from the balcony, Kakashi wished him luck having returned from sealing away Sasuke's curse mark.

They both took their stances on the arena floor, Kiba slipping into a bestial form while Naruto again fell into the strange stance no one recognized. (**A/N: **I realise people would like a more in depth description of this stance and why. To tell the truth i need time to figure it out for myself and develop the style for Naruto so for now he's not going to be using it as intended due to his lack of proper instruction and instead will get instruction on it later where i will write about it more in depth.) Guy in particular was interested in Naruto's stance, as a taijutsu master anything not familiar to him was cause for curiosity and he resolved to ask about it later.

"Hahaha we got lucky, we can definitely win against this guy eh Akamaru? I mean he's the class Dobe" Kiba proclaimed loudly. Hiruzen looked at him dissaprovingly, his boisterous disposition was fine but judging Naruto so quickly based on stats from six months ago was foolhardy. Many ninja had risen from being a Dobe to being highly capable shinobi, Jiraiya of the sannin being the most prominent example. Additionally an observant person which all shinobi must be would quickly note the change in stance from Naruto's brawling tactics to a not quite refined but still obviously improved fighting style.

"You can't beat me! I'll definitely win this!" Naruto felt that to keep up appearances he would have to revert to his personality before his change. The first thing the old Naruto would have done would be insult his opponent and then brag about himself.

"Don't bother with this Akamaru, i'll take this guy all on my own." Kiba said looking down to his ninken confidently.

"Naruto don't lose to this guy!" Sakura screeched from above, next to her Kakashi quietly observed already knowing the outcome would be in his favor, he had nearly defeated Genma so one Genin wouldn't be a problem.

Kurenai also watched from her part of the balcony, she too was ignorant of Naruto's changes and was quick to dismiss him, arrogantly thinking that there was no way he could beat Kiba in the coming battle.

The opponents continued staring at each other for a while as Kiba finally began paying attention and thought about how much he may have improved. Being brash as he was however he never considered that Naruto may have improved enough to beat him. Not being able to resist one last jab he called out, "I'll finish you in one hit out of pity."

"Tch, whatever," Naruto replied. Seeing the conversation was over Hayate dropped his arm.

"Hajime!"

Kiba dropped to all fours and quickly performed his first jutsu.

**"Gijyuu ninpou: Shikakyu no jutsu"**

Kiba sprinted forward and tried to swipe at Naruto's face with his canine like claws. Compared toi his new speed though Kiba was agonizingly slow and so Naruto leaned back almost tauntingly slowly in reply to avoid the swipe and quickly brought his left knee up straight into Kiba's gut through the hole in his guard that the wild swipe had made. Kiba doubled over slightly as the unexpected power behind the blow took the breath out of him allowing Naruto so bring his fist crashing into Kiba's left cheek sending him bouncing across the arena floor. Naruto pressed his advantage and using his increased speed appeared behind Kiba, leg already in motion to kick him in the chest sending him into the wall with it's power.

Sakura was flabbergasted at her team mates apparent drastic improvement. She had expected him to go charging in screaming at the top of his lungs but instead he had calmly waited for his opponents attack before countering flawlessly. _'He's so fast, i barely even saw him attack before Kiba just went flying away.' _She continued watching stunned by the change. Her fellow Genin were all having similar reactions shocked into silence by his display of taijutsu.

Kurenai's jaw had hit the ground and her eyes were wide. _'Where the hell did that come from? Kiba should be much faster than him but that maneuver looked effortless and his speed... he was even faster than i am.' _As a Genjutsu specialist Kurenai was not especially fast among Jounin but she should still be leagues above a mere Chunin hopeful.

Even Kakashi was mildly surprised, he knew Naruto was much better now than he ever was before but he hadn't expected this much improvement, Kiba was nowhere near touching him.

Naruto made to once again continue his assault but at that moment, Akamaru who had been sprinting to meet with the bouncing Kiba changed course and tore into Naruto's leg with his teeth. The Genin yelped in surprise at the painful bite but quickly threw Akamaru off with a shake of his leg, the already injured puppy whining as it hit the ground. Kiba heard his pained noises and looked up to see Akamaru hit the ground.

"You bastard, don't worry Akamaru i'll get him back for you." Kiba threw down smoke bombs and ran into the resulting cloud hoping to use his superior sense of smell to catch Naruto in his blind spot. This didn't last long however when Naruto quickly formed a cross with two fingers from each hand.

**"Tajuu kage bunshin no jutsu!" **Naruto called out the jutsu's name.

"Clones don't work on me moron, i can smell which one is real, clones don't smell." From within the smoke 20 Naruto's laughed simultaneously.

"Normal Bunshin may not work but these clones are solid, for all intents and purposes they are real people... meaning they smell." Kiba growled when he realized the truth behind Naruto's words, he could smell all of them, he rushed into the smoke and began attacking quickly trying to dispel them. What he didn't count on was the fact that when one clone is destroyed all their knowledge is passed on not only to the original, but all his other clones too (**A/N:** This is true check out Kage bunshin on naruto wikia) so when he destroyed the first one all the others instantly knew where he was.

Suddenly the fight became a lot harder when instead of a quick pass attack to destroy a clone he took a hit in return every time. By the time they were all gone most of the smoke from the bombs had cleared and Kiba was left standing alone, the real Naruto nowhere in sight. He was panting from pain and exhaustion at the effort required to take them all out. He looked around wildly trying to find where Naruto could be, he turned around and slashed with his claws as an orange blur dropped down from the roof, only for that Naruto to explode as well and a second one to drop down it's shadow with a crushing ax kick to Kiba's head knocking him out and ending the fight.

The now revealed real Naruto just grinned for a second before realizing he had to keep up his unchanged appearance.

"Yeah! Yeah! I won! Hahahaha I'm awesome and Kiba sucks!" He leaped into the air as he cheered himself on and continued bouncing on the spot for a good minute when he was cleared off the arena floor so the next fight could start. All but five occupants of the room were slack jawed as they stared at the blonde boy excitedly running up the stairs.

The Hokage and Kakashi looked on proudly at him and approved of the way he had fought. He had easily dominated the entire fight from start to finish and had been in complete control the entire time. Finishing the fight fast and without any unnecessary risks taken, he hadn't even broken a sweat doing it. He looked like he hadn't been pushed at all. Hayate as proctor remained fairly apathetic to the outstanding performance. Gaara was stoic as ever but his eyes showed his now sparked interest concerning his fellow jinchuuriki.

"That one will prove my existence, his blood will be satisfying, mother craves it." The menacing whisper drew the attention of his two siblings who felt sorry for the now doomed blonde boy. _'And he was kinda cute too,' _Temari couldn't help but thinking.

Anko had the most noticeable reaction of those that weren't surprised, she promptly fell on her ass laughing at the stunned look on everyone's face. Pointing at each of her Jounin friends in turn and cracking jokes about how whole planes could fly in their mouth without them ever noticing. The loud laughter drew the attention of her friend Kurenai who narrowed her eyes, Anko didn't seem surprised at all, she would have to talk to her later.

After Anko's laughter had died down to fit's of giggles having been calmed down by the Hokage, who by now was struggling to contain his own mirth, Anko's laughter after all was rather infectious and he appreciated the humor of what had set her laughing, the next match was called.

"Hinata Hyuuga and Neji Hyuuga please come down for your match." There was an audible gasp from those among the crowd that knew of the circumstances surrounding this pair. Kurenai looked extremely worried and Guy's mouth was set in a grim slash, he couldn't stop what was about to happen and so decided to say nothing.

The pair of Genin began their match evenly enough but it quickly became apparent who the better Jyuuken practitioner and the difference was only further highlighted when both Hyuuga's activated their Byakugan eyes. Neji quickly dismantled the weaker Hinata who ,despite putting up a better fight than expected especially after Naruto shouted out words of encouragement, could not stand up to her older cousin. Before Neji was able to get in a killing blow No less than three Jounin and Hayate who still held the respected rank of Tokubetsu Jounin. The four powerful ninja sternly told him off and Hinata collapsed. As the medics carried her out Naruto promised to himself that should they face each other he would make it painful for Neji.

The ninth match was just as impressive as Naruto's domination of Kiba. Gaara had displayed his fearsome talent with sand and his near impenetrable defense. Lee was not one to be disheartened though and after removing his weights with the permission of Guy was able to land a few furious strikes on Gaara for the first time in the sand Jinchuuriki's life. It was all for naught when his sand armour was revealed though and in the true tit for tat fashion of the match Lee had upped the ante by using his frontal lotus. Continuing the pattern Gaara revealed himself to be a sand clone. Trying to end it Lee opened five of the eight gates and i looked like he was going to win but Gaara finished it with a devastating sand coffin. Once again the Jounin had to intervene to prevent death but the final result was a quick guess that Lee's ninja days were over.

After the previous three fights which were impressive to all as the skills of Naruto, Neji, Lee and Gaara were revealed, the final fight of the preliminaries could only be considered disappointing. Choji was reluctant to fight until food was offered as an incentive but his first instinct was correct. He was defeated by Dosu's sound attacks when he used the water in Choji's body to transmit the waves through his body and overcome the problem of Choji's human bullet tank jutsu.

With that the preliminaries concluded and the finalists were decided. The nine Genin were assembled in front of the Hokage once again, Sasuke having recovered from the sealing process.

"I am very proud of all of you who have shown your strength throughout the exam to prove you are the best Genin here so congratulations to all of you. In order to focus your training over the next month we will draw lots for the matches now so you can prepare for your specific opponents and any that you might face after that." Hayate stepped forward when the Hokage finished.

"The way we will do this is again by random selection but this time we will draw lot's by hand. In this box," here he indicated Anko who held up a large box,"are 9 balls all with numbers written on them, you will each draw a ball and call out the number written on it in order to determine your opponent." Anko went round and passed out all the balls and one by one the Genin called out their number.

"3" called Sasuke.

"4" Shino's voice intoned.

"6" said Kankuro.

"9" Temari smirked knowing she had a bye.

"2" Shikamaru said tiredly.

"1" Naruto called glancing at Shikamaru and sizing him up.

"5" came Neji's position.

"8" growled out Gaara.

"7" Dosu's voice came out shaky as he glanced at the murderous redhead he would be fighting.

"Very well, the first matches will be as follows;

Uzumaki Naruto versus Nara Shikamaru, Uchiha Sasuke versus Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Neji versus Subaku Kankuro, Kinuta Dosu versus Subaku Gaara and a bye is given to Subaku Temari.

Once again congratulations and good luck with your training, in exactly one month assemble at the stadium, you will be given notice closer to the day with more details, dismissed."

**xXxXx**

The Genin began to leave, escorted by their Jounin sensei to help them exit the forest unharmed, the wounded had already been transported to the hospital. Sakura decided to take this opportunity to grill Naruto about his new skills.

"Where the hell did that come from Naruto? Since when did you get so good at taijutsu? You suck!" She still couldn't believe he could win with such ease when she had barely scraped a draw.

"What do you mean Sakura?" Sasuke asked from beside her. "I'm sure the dobe just got lucky or something."

"No you didn't see it Sasuke-kun he had Kiba from the start, it was like he was a different person."

"Tch, doesn't matter to me, i have these." He said activating his sharingan eyes and glaring at Naruto. He nearly missed the next jump though when he saw the Genjutsu around Naruto.

"Drop the Genjutsu Dobe, what the hell are you hiding?" Naruto sighed knowing he'd been caught and there was nothing he could do about it now, they'd find out eventually and if Sasuke's sharingan evolved any more he would be able to break it instantly anyway. Kakashi watched boredly but also internally sighing on the inside, their loud reactions were going to interrupt his reading.

The group stopped and Naruto stood apart from the others fidgeting a little. He finally released the henge and showed his team his new body.

Sakura's jaw dropped at his new look and her thoughts slowed to a mile an hour. _'What the hell happened to him, he looks like he's in his twenties. All rippling with muscles, it looks like he's been working out for ten years straight... he's kinda hot... Wait what!? NO! I love Sasuke!' _Despite her indignant refusal to acknowledge her thoughts she had to hide her blush from the rest of her team before someone saw it and she became the laughing stock of her friends for years.

Sasuke was confused but for different reasons. He was trying to figure out when it may have happened and what caused it. _'This new body of his is strong. How did he do this? Whatever it did it made the dobe strong so it will make me even stronger, i'll just say if he tells me what to do i'll be his friend and then with my new power i will sweep through the exams.'_

"What happened dobe? How did you end up like this and why the hell did it happen to you and not me?" Naruto fidgeted a little more trying to think of what he would say. How do you explain to two of your only friends in the world that you have a millennium old demon sealed inside you and it decided to make you stronger after having a hissy fit about how his container was weak? He thought this over for a while before deciding that the straight truth would be his best option.

"Fine i'll tell you, but we have to get somewhere more private, this is an S ranked secret and i don't really want anyone else to know just yet, i wouldn't be telling you guys if i didn't think it was necessary." They nodded cautiously and sped away towards the village after Naruto replaced his henge.

Meanwhile Kakashi had just kept on hopping through the tress reading his book without stopping. He hadn't noticed the Genin stop, hadn't heard Sasuke find out Naruto's latest secret, he hadn't even realized that his only company now were three giant lions that had just caught up to him. One of the lions leaped in front of him cutting off his exit and roared ata deafening volume.

Kakashi stopped when it cut him off, hearing the roar he looked up for the first time since watching the fights.

"Hm? Did you say something Guy?" he looked bored even as he spotted the huge lion which just stared at him in shock, not used to it's prey being so unconcerned. All it's tiny brain could muster was the simple thought, _'What's with this guy's hip attitude?'_

Elsewhere in the forest another Jounin clad in spandex fought the urge to cough and suddenly shouted out,

"Damn you and your hip attitude Kakashiiiiiiiii!"

**xXxXx**

Team 7 landed at the edge of the Uchiha district and quickly entered. They finished their sprint outside Sasuke's house and were ushered inside by it's impatient owner.

"No ever comes to this part of Konoha, you can talk about whatever you want and no one will hear you."

"Okay, before i begin... how much do you know about the Kyuubi no kitsune that attacked Konoha 13 years ago? The confused looks on their faces were expected so he continued. "Just tell me what you know."

Sakura of course being the know it all she was spoke up first.

"13 years ago the Kyuubi appeared on the outskirts of Konoha and began attacking the village. Many shinobi died and it looked like all hope was lost until the Yondaime appeared and killed it with one attack."

"Well you would be right if you weren't so completely wrong." Naruto chuckled.

"Baka don't lie!" She tried to hit him but she suddenly found her fist being crushed within his hand. "ITAI! stop it!" she screeched. "What the hell are you talking about? That's what the history books say."

"History is written by the victor Sakura and victor's can lie. The Kyuubi was beaten by the Yondaime but no Demon can be killed by a mere jutsu. The only way he could beat it was to seal it into something."

"No scroll could hold that kind of power dobe there's no way he would seal it."

"I never said it was a scroll teme, your right, it would never hold that power but there were other options available. He sealed it into a newborn child, born that day. He sealed the demon into me guys. I'm what's called a Jinchuuriki, a human sacrifice designed to contain a bijuu and harness it's power."

"What? You're saying that the Kyuubi is inside you?" Naruto lifted his new shirt and channeled chakra showing them both the seal, Sakura gasped when she saw it and Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Please, i'm still the same person i was before, you just know more about me, i hope this doesn't change your opinion of me." Sakura looked at him with fear in her eyes.

"That's where the red chakra came from in the forest isn't it? Does that mean it can escape!?" By this point she was getting near hysterical and Sasuke spoke sharply to calm her down.

"Sakura! Be quiet, Naruto isn't done yet." Inside his mind was whirring, he was finding out more about Naruto's hidden powers all the time, he had been unconscious when Naruto released Kyuubi's chakra and hadn't known he had this power. Now he couldn't help but feel jealous. _'Why wasn't i used? I deserve that power.'_ "You still haven't told us what any of this has to do with you ageing more than a decade."

"Oh, right. Well after we were attacked by Orochimaru in the forest and i was knocked unconscious i woke up within my own mind. I talked to the Kyuubi," at this point Sakura had nearly wet herself thinking he had spoken to the oldest and most powerful being in the shinobi nations. "He was angry, furious in fact. He told me that as weak as i was it wouldn't be long before i was killed in action. He told me that if i were to be killed then he would die too, or at least be as dead as a purely chakra being could be and so i needed to get stronger. I laughed at him asking what he was going to do about it."

"You laughed at Kyuubi? Dobe you're such a dumb ass."

"Hey he was behind bars how the hell would i know he can still do stuff? Anyway after i laughed he just grinned evilly and all of a sudden his chakra swarmed me, i woke up the next day looking like this and stronger than ever. Suddenly i wasn't pathetic, i guess Kyuubi was just as scared of death as anyone else, he's just able to do more about it than most." At this he chuckled a little weakly.

"So what? Now you're super strong?"

"Yes and no, he didn't teach me anything, just refined my instincts, made my brain a bit better and peaked my body, i'm only at high Chuunin level overall, the Hokage made me do a test."

Sasuke mulled over this new information in his head. The dobe was strong now, a worthy opponent to test his strength, if he could prove that he was stronger than Naruto now that would be a real step forward. But the finals were a month away, far too long for Sasuke's tastes. There was only one solution.

"Fight me"

"What?"

"Fight me right now!"

"No way!" That's when Sasuke did something Naruto never thought he would do outside of a spar. He threw a punch at Naruto that sent him sailing right through the rice paper and lattice wood wall to tumble in the dirt outside. Sasuke stepped through the hole he had made in the wall, anger flashing through his eyes. _'I need to do this, i need to prove myself... I need to prove it **to** myself as well. He's strong so i need to be stronger, i am the strongest and i won't let him take that away from me!' _His rage overwhelmed him now as he felt threatened by Naruto's new strength and he shouted at him.

"I said FIGHT!" Naruto stood up and wiped some blood off the corner of his mouth. By now Sakura was sobbing as she tugged at Sasuke's sleeve.

"Please Sasuke-kun don't do this, you're way stronger please just stop," Sakura wailed. She was stunned when Sasuke grabbed her wrist and threw her to the ground, his cursed seal had activated now, black flames were spreading across his face and his anger doubled at the touch of Orochimaru's vile chakra. An aura of purple surrounded him and he reveled in it's power, no... he was still stronger than Naruto, and now he would prove it. He glared at Naruto waiting for a response.

"Okay bastard... you wanna fight...?" He flashed across the distance between them and brought his leg crashing against Sasuke's cheek, too fast for his reflexes to dodge even though his Sharingan could follow it, before settling into his now slightly more familiar stance. "...then let's fight."

**xXxXx**

Well that was kinda fun kinda boring, i never liked the Chunin exam prelims and the only reason i included as much as i did was for readers who either hadn't seen them or not for a long time. Naruto's fight i went more in depth into as per requested by a reviewer and i agreed with him that it was a great opportunity to show his new strength as compared to the other Genin, other than that i had to keep it as canon as possible because him getting stronger wouldn't change the random selection of fights nor the way people thought or talked before his fight and during the others. Other than that i'm pleased with how his match turned out and the others went well too, did you like the little comedy bit with Kakashi and the lion?

For the first time i'm doing a jutsu list just because there may be one or two you guys are not familiar with the Japanese version of.

**Gijyuu ninpou: Shikakyu no jutsu = Beast mimicry technique, four legs.**

**Jyuuken = Gentle fist.**

Not a long list but i thought id include it anyway.

And last of all i'm holding a poll so that you guys can vote on who you want to progress in the tournament, the only thing i will reveal is that it will not be cut short like in canon. It is a rule that Naruto has to progress at least once and i hope you guys would want him to win the whole thing but it's up to you, i don't really expect a large response as this is only a new story but i honestly can't decide past i want Naruto to win so yeah. To vote just PM me or leave a review i don't care either way.

As always i hope you enjoyed it so until next time, Sayonara.


	4. Traitors and training

I'm back guys and excited about it. I'm so sorry that this took so long, i had a huge amount of school work to complete (for those that didn't know that i'm still at highschool and i'm interested to see what you thought my age was) and i couldn't find any time for this. Additionally i was violently sick the on weekend i had free and so this took far longer than i had hoped. Also sorry i couldn't get to the training month like i said i would in the last chapter, truth be told i didn't know myself that it would end that way until it did, it just felt right that it would happen that way, maybe I've read too much fanfiction but i feel that's how Sasuke would have reacted so i decided hey? What the heck, CLIFFHANGER! Side note, it's also come to my attention that the formatting of my breaks haven't been working to well so i changed them, hope that it's better.

Also again special thanks to microzombie for beta-ing this chapter.

So today we have a very special guest Jiraiya! here to do the disclai- *CRASH!* Oh Kyuuuuubi-kuuun!

Oh shit, uh hi? Anko? What the hell did you do with Jiraiya?!

That old pervert? He let me in and all i had to do was flash my boobs.

WHAT! I've been trying so hard to tell everyone that you aren't a slut!

Hahaha I'm just kidding, i kicked him in the balls and ran away laughing!

Oh... but why are you here?

Well, did someone forget our little deal that i have a bit of fun with Naruto-kun every chapter? Cause i didn't see anything last chapter.

I-I can explain, there was so much to do, you're in this one! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!

Hehe, not good enough, I think we're going to need to do some 'training'. *Begins dragging me away*

No NO! ANKOOOOOOOOO! I don't wanna be a slave! *smack* I mean, I don't wanna be a slave, mistress! *Begins crying as I'm dragged along the ground*

*Anko talks over her shoulder* Lord Kyuubi does not own Naruto!

And now, what I hope you guys have been waiting for, Sasuke getting his ass whooped. BEGIN THE CHAPTER!

**xXxXx**

Sasuke smirked thinking he was getting exactly what he wanted. He and Naruto would fight and when he came out the victor against a near Jounin level opponent the village would promote him and give him special training. Sharingan eyes spinning he launched himself at Naruto who just stood there calmly, as he drew close he drew his fist back to punch at his solar plexus and hopefully wind him but by the time he had it fully cocked back Naruto's own fist was already firmly lodged in his jaw. Stumbling backwards Sasuke clutched at it in pain.

Naruto hung back not pressing his advantage, he may have agreed to fight but Naruto still didn't want to hurt his comrade, no matter how much of an ass said comrade was being. That's when Sasuke, realizing this knew he had to bait Naruto if he were to get a real fight.

"Come on and attack me... demon." Naruto looked up sharply, memories of all the time that word had been spat at him came flooding through his mind. He looked at Sasuke with ice cold eyes, no longer did he see him as a misguided friend seeking to test himself, he was now one of them. A villager, someone who just didn't know any better and couldn't wrap their heads around how a seal functions. Being smarter now Naruto no longer went straight for Kyuubi's power just because he was angry, he resolved to beat him under his own power and prove he didn't need and was not, Kyuubi. He levelled his cold glare at Sasuke settling into a stance. Sasuke hesitated a bit thinking he may have made a mistake but the power of the curse seal pulsed through him, throbbing with power and Sasuke simply forgot he still mortal.

That feeling lasted all of five seconds and was cut short when Naruto's fist landed a crushing blow to his throat. Still coughing, the blow was quickly followed up by a haymaker that dislocated his already damaged jaw and was immediately continued by Naruto pulling Sasuke's face down and smashing it into his knee. This sequence was finished by Naruto landing a powerful flat footed kick to Sasuke's ribs, cracking some and sending him tumbling to the ground.

Before he had time to think Naruto was on him again and lifting him off the ground by his head before throwing him at the ground and stepping on his chest breaking the ribs he had cracked before. Naruto seemed to think he was done for and so didn't attack again, Sasuke used the reprieve to stand up clutching his chest and broken nose that was pouring blood from the vicious knee.

He sprinted at Naruto again and this time ducked low trying to put an elbow in his abdomen, this time however Naruto flashed behind him and planted his heel into Sasuke's shoulder via a vicious ax kick hearing an ominous crack as his collar bone snapped. Sasuke fell face first into the dirt and had to bite back a cry of pain. He struggled for a bit and finally stood up using only his right arm biting back whimpers when he knocked his left shoulder. For the first time he finally realized the weakness of the sharingan, no matter how easily you can see what's coming if your body isn't fast enough to do anything about it your still going to lose.

He had seen every move Naruto had made so far in precise detail, seen the punches and kicks coming at him seeing to move only an inch a minute but hadn't been able to do anything about it. His body was slower than his eyes were, the result was that instead of blows disabling him out of nowhere he instead got a slow motion cinematic view of Naruto systematically disabling with ease.

Standing firmly feet spread apart left arm hanging limply and ribs aching, he charged at Naruto again for a third time lamenting the loss of his arm because now he couldn't resort to long range jutsu. He roared out a battle cry as he threw a sloppy right hook, Naruto leaned back and the fist passed him harmlessly. Just as he was about to deliver a swift chop to his neck that would knock him out a blur appeared and materialized into Kakashi who caught both blows and threw them to the dirt. Sasuke's curse seal receded and he just stayed there, in the dirt, whimpering at the pain racking his entire body from his cracked ribs to his snapped collar bone, his broken bone to his dislocated jaw.

"What the hell is going on here?" Very few people had seen Hatake Kakashi truly angry and those that had considered it a sight they never wanted to see again. But when he found two of his students, the same two he had drilled the importance of teamwork and camaraderie into for the past six months, fighting like enemy nin, he was nothing less than furious.

The three Genin were horrified by just how angry their powerful teacher was. It was not as strong as the killing intent of someone such as Orochimaru and it paled in comparison to Kyuubi but those were enemies. Bored old, eye smiling Kakashi is not someone you expect to be leaking killing intent in the direction of his squad even with good reason. But this was a special case, these three were so much like his own team and he refused to see a tear as there had been between him and Obito.

"Sasuke attacked me! He wanted to fight, I refused so he threw a punch. He attacked again so I hit him, then he called me demon and I attacked." Naruto fared a little better than the other two, being of higher constitution and having endured Kyuubi's wrath but he could barely get the words out without stuttering, lazy or not Kakashi was a man to be feared.

"Sakura is this true?" He asked turning to the shaking pink haired girl. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights now, stuck between her crush and the truth.

"Uh, uhm well, i don't really know sensei... I..." She whimpered as the pressure of Kakashi's killing intent surrounded her.

"It's a simple question Sakura, is what Naruto is saying true?" For good measure he lifted his headband and revealed his sharingan, she wouldn't be able to lie to him now.

"Na-Naruto, uh he." She began sobbing, not able to handle the pressure anymore. She ran back into Sasuke's house crying. Kakashi's face softened a little, perhaps he'd been a little too harsh on her, she wasn't the one caught fighting her own team mate and at least she hadn't tried lying to him.

"Sasuke, how about you? Is Naruto telling me the truth?" To be honest Kakashi already knew the answer was yes, he had felt the vile presence of Sasuke activating his curse seal. He was now giving Sasuke the chance to come clean and be honest with him. He struggled to get up and face Kakashi, eventually making it to a sitting up position.

Upon seeing his face Kakashi grew worried, he looked lifeless, his eyes were dead and his face expressionless. His body language looked like he had nothing left to live for and that frightened him. If Sasuke slipped further into depression now, especially with the curse seal on his neck then there was no telling what he was liable to do.

"Yes sensei it's true, i attacked Naruto first." Kakashi's frown lessened slightly at this, with the curse seals power safely sealed again Sasuke had no problem telling the truth. There was still one thing he wouldn't answer though.

"Why did you do it, Sasuke?" At this he hung his head and refused to meet anyone's eyes. Sighing Kakashi picked him up.

"Naruto, i'm taking Sasuke to the hospital, report to the Hokage and tell him everything that happened." With this the Jounin disappeared with a shunshin leaving Naruto alone to contemplate what had just happened. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he resolved to just ask Sasuke about it later. He too left although not as fast as a shunshin.

**xXxXx**

Naruto stood in front of the Hokage, he had just finished recounting a full version of his story to and was waiting for the aged man's reply. Hiruzen studied him carefully, he saw no hint of deceit and knew that Naruto was telling the true and whole story, he also took special note that Naruto didn't have a scratch on him. The one bruise from Sasuke's allowed punch already having disappeared.

"Do you have any idea why Sasuke may have attacked you?" Naruto shook his head. "Hmm, do you believe he has control of the curse seal?" Here Naruto hesitated, out of the three times he had seen Sasuke fight since receiving the curse seal he had activated it twice. He wanted to say yes but he knew it just wasn't true.

"No I don't."

"Very well, unfortunately I can't disqualify him from the exams just now. As much as I hate it as the last Uchiha he will bring in a lot of clientele and the village needs that. I must do what is best for the village for now. Attacking a fellow shinobi is a serious offence however, punishable by death, in this case you suffered no serious damage so the penalty may be less severe nut we will meet after the exams in order to discuss a suitable punishment. Rest assured this will not go un-addressed, we must simply wait for the right time.

"I understand jiji." Hiruzen smiled, Naruto had matured a lot in only a few days, it was almost off putting seeing him act this way, even if the henge he was currently holding made him look the same as ever. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in" Hiruzen's assistant walked in.

"Jounin Hatake Kakashi here to see you Hokage-sama." With a nod he waved his hand to indicate he wanted him to come in.

"Send him in thank you." Kakashi walked in, for once not looking bored or reading his book. He stood at attention and waited for the Hokage to speak.

"Kakashi, I have already received a full report from Naruto here, please tell me what you know happened." Kakashi recounted from when he noticed that his Genin had left and he suddenly felt the curse seal and Kyuubi's chakra, to when he carried Sasuke to the hospital, finishing with when he had come to report in. "Naruto, do you agree with what Kakashi has told me?" Naruto nodded his head curtly.

"Hmm, well as I just told Naruto we can't do anything until the exams are over. The Uchiha name is well known and he will bring in a lot of clients just for showing up. Until then Kakashi, I'm ordering you to train Naruto."

"Hokage-sama, I was planning on taking Sasuke out of the village, in light of recent events I may need to work closely with him to help him mentally."

"No, Naruto here has the potential to reach Jounin in a year, maybe less if he is trained right, as it is Sasuke will not even make Chuunin. I will not waste your talents on Sasuke when we have a ninja that could grow that quickly, we are currently relatively low on Jounin, adding another would be a valuable addition to our ranks. Naruto's main weakness currently is his limited jutsu arsenal, it is small even for a Genin, for a Jounin it would be pitiful. You are the best equipped in the village to rectify this, you have over a thousand jutsu, i want you to teach Naruto as many as you can in the next month." Kakashi thought about this for a while, it was true that another Jounin would be a huge addition to Konoha's strength, more A ranked missions would be completed and it's economy would be strengthened.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Very well, you're both dismissed." They left his office and the Hokage mused for a while before seemingly talking to thin air. "Come out Jiraiya, I need to talk to you." Chuckling, a large white haired man stepped out from seemingly nowhere and began to laugh.

"You're still as good as ever, sensei." Also smirking the Hokage replied without missing a beat.

"You won't slip one past me 'till the day I die." Jiraiya moved to stand in front of his sensei's desk.

"Interesting kid. So what do you need?"

"I want you to train him. Give him the toads to summon, and teach him to control Kyuubi, ever since they talked I've been worried."

"Hasn't he already got a sensei though? He'll be fine without me."

"For the Chunin exams easily, but for what comes after, maybe not. What you've reported about Akatsuki worries me, if they move now we may not be able to stop them, Naruto has the potential to outstrip them all. With Kyuubi powering him and the best teachings we can offer guiding him he could become a monster among men. I need you to teach him though and to make it look spontaneous, I'm already playing favorites, i can't be seen sending him to a sannin as well or other ninja may become resentful. Will you do it?"

"...Of course i will sensei... He's Minato's kid, how can i refuse?"

"You already did, 13 years ago" Jiraiya had the decency to be ashamed."

"Things are different now," he whispered, "I'll make sure that kid get's the best around now."

"Good."

**xXxXx**

Somewhere in the village, Konoha's beautiful blue beast was on the prowl. His target? The youthful student of his eternal rival! Might Guy's interest was sparked, Naruto's new style was intriguing. He was eager to learn about it, where it came from, it's strengths and weaknesses and whether it might improve his own taijutsu. He had been searching through Konoha for an hour now with no luck. He had checked out all the places he had heard Naruto frequented. The great stone face of the Hokage, Ichiraku ramen and his apartment. His last option was training ground 7.

As he approached the medium sized ground he heard grunting and the sound of chakra being used, that was a good sign, sprinting in he leaped over the treeline surrounding the grounds and landed a flying kick against one of the training posts shattering it into a thousand pieces.

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

A jaw dropping 500 Naruto's looked up in confusion only to be confronted with a comical sight. Guys stood arm outstretched, thumb up and teeth gleaming. The classic good Guy pose that set most Jounin on edge. Suddenly he spotted all of the clones and began talking to them all.

"Yosh! What is my eternal rivals most youthful student doing? Is there an enemy I have not spotted?" Guy made a show of whipping his head around to search for some non-existent adversary. "Ah! They must have run off when confronted with Konoha's beautiful blue beast! I am sorry for taking victory away from you Naruto-kun!"

"What the hell are you going on about?" The nearest clone stepped up to talk to him, "we're just training, the real one is over that way with Kakashi-sensei doing physical training." The clone pointed back over the heads of the group around him towards a sopt with a few trees where Naruto could be seen doing push-ups with Kakashi sitting on top of him reading Icha Icha. Guy thanked the clone and bounded towards them with his over excited gait.

As he drew closer he could hear Kakashi giggling, he also saw Naruto blush hard every time this happened. Despite this Naruto continued with his workout even as Guy dropped down next to him and began doing his own push-ups, two for every one Naruto did.

"Your flames of youth burn brightly, I must match them and go beyond!"Naruto glanced over and gave him an odd look.

"Uh, Guy sensei... what are you doing?" Ushering Kakashi off his back he stood up and waited for an answer.

"Ah Naruto-kun! When i saw you working so hard i just had to match you and then go further, for that is the way of youth!"

"Okay but, why are you actually here?" Naruto asked curiously. Guy seemed to pause at that and a frown found it's way onto his face as he adopted a thinking pose.

"Hmmm let me think and see if I can remember... OH YES! That's it!" Naruto took a step back slightly alarmed at the eccentric shinobis outburst. "I was going to ask you about your taijutsu style, where did it come from and how does it work?" Naruto glanced nervously at Kakashi and seemed to shift uncomfortably.

"I uhhh... read it in a book, hehe." He said nervously.

"Ah a book! It must have been old, i know most of the taijutsu styles currently in use, may i see this book?" Here Naruto got really nervous.

"Uh well i ummm, spilled ramen on it! yeah i was eating and reading when suddenly Sasuke came up and bumped me when he tried to show me something, you know how excitable Sasuke gets eh? Good ol' Sasuke." Naruto laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head hoping the lie wouldn't be noticed. Guy seemed to stare at him for a few minutes before suddenly grinning.

"It's great to see that you and Sasuke are developing such youthful bonds! A rivalry is the perfect way to propel your skills into greatness!" As he spoke of propelling a cliff seemed to appear beneath him with waves lapping at it's base and a golden sunset sinking into the horizon. "As each of you strive to push ahead of the other you will both soon find yourselves far beyond your peers and entering the realm of legend, without even knowing it your struggle against each other will push you beyond what you ever thought possible! YOSH! THIS IS SO EXCITING!"

Meanwhile Naruto and Kakashi could do naught but stare in horror at this seemingly unbreakable genjutsu. As Guy turned back to the pair they both contemplated turning tail and running but they also knew that as the foremost taijutsu expert in the fire nation and possibly the continent he would be best equipped to help Naruto master his new style. With a sigh Naruto accepted his fate and began explaining everything he knew about the new style and they began the long arduous process of unraveling it.

**xXxXx**

Three shinobi lay in the grass of training ground 12 all panting hard, covered in sweat bruises and the occasional trace of blood. Kakashi was the worst off of them, he was a ninjutsu specialist and so couldn't compete with Guy's taijutsu. Despite the fact that he was still better than Naruto he couldn't hope to compete with the Uzumaki's stamina. Guy and Naruto were about the same, Naruto had to work much harder but he was built for that kind of thing and so it mostly evened out.

They had just spent the last 8 hours solid working on Naruto's taijutsu skills, Guy had quickly picked up the basics and he and Naruto had spent time working out the kinks, correcting openings and perfecting their ability to take advantage of gaps in enemy guards. Kakashi had, with Naruto's permission, copied the style using his sharingan so that he too could be a tactical wealth of knowledge and help. The end result was a much more refined use of what had been dubbed **Niseken** or the false fist.

The reason for this was that the style relied heavily on feints to create openings using superior speed. What this meant was that the user would seem to attack one area of the body and then using superior speed switch the attack to strike a completely different and now newly exposed point, generally a joint or pressure point with the intention of weakening or killing the opponent. This deceptive style of fighting was extremely hard to counter, virtually the only way would be to be faster than the user.

With this in mind they had spent two full hours out of the eight working on Naruto's speed, having him sprint set distances with less and less time on the clock, if he was too slow he had to run it again and again until he progressed to the next, even smaller time. They applied a similar tactic with actual striking speed, having him strike a log as many times as he could in a minute and then gradually upping the number. Finally they made him do a series of exercises to increase his muscle strength so that he could move his limbs faster.

Finally They all seemed to recover a little and get the majority of their breath back. Seeing this Kakashi turned to Naruto and got his attention.

"Naruto, now we have to go to the next step, ninjutsu." Naruto looked at him like he had grown a second head.

"What the hell are you talking about Kakashi-sensei? Even i'm tired from that workout can't we do ninjutsu tomorrow?" Naruto whined, he was tired and sore from the freakishly intense training and just wanted to go shower.

"No, and i'll tell you why. Hokage-sama has ordered me to train you to the best of my ability and so that's exactly what I plan to do, no more late arrivals, no more tree climbing and no more D-rank missions. It's time for me to get serious about this and that means things are about to get real tough on you. From now on we will meet here at 7am every morning and won't leave until 10pm every night, 15 hours of intense training every day, only stopping to eat or use the bathroom, I am gonna put you through hell and by the end of it you will be able to survive in hell."

Naruto paled at Kakashi's description of his new training regime, even he wasn't sure he could work that hard. Then he began thinking about how much that would help him, the only way to progress past your limits is to push yourself beyond them after all. With this in mind he steeled his resolve, if this would help him he would do it.

"Your genjutsu unfortunately is irredeemable, in light of this we will spend 7 hours a day on taijutsu. This will include strength, speed, technique, reflexes and endurance training. You will not use any chakra for this and Guy will be joining us. Then we will spend 7 hours on jutsu training, Hokage-sama recognizes that this is now an obvious gap in your knowledge so i will be teaching you quite a few, this will also include chakra control and giving you bigger reserves. The remaining 15th hour will be split into three 20 minute food and restroom breaks. We start now!"

Groaning Naruto proceed to do chakra control exercises for another two hours, taking into account their late start Kakashi went easy on him today. In his mind though he promised himself that by the time he was done, Naruto would be able to take on any S-rank out there.

**xXxXx**

By the time Naruto made it home he could barely move, in an effort to increase his already considerable reserves Kakashi had made him drain his chakra dry. Coupled with the physical exhaustion of one of Guy's legendary workouts it had made for the toughest and most productive training session he had ever done and now all he wanted to do was shower and sleep.

He fumbled around for his key outside his apartment door when suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around his waist from behind and he instantly tensed up. This faded nearly as fast as it came though when he smelled who his would be assailant was.

"Hey Naruto-kuuun," a serpentine voice cooed in his ear. "All hot and sweaty without me? Now that's not fair." Anko suddenly recoiled though. "Actually you can keep it to yourself, you stink!" Now it was Naruto's turn to grin at her although he barely pulled it off as he nearly fell asleep on the spot. Anko caught him before he could fall and quickly brought him inside, laying him on the couch. Naruto looked up wearily as she began to bustle about in his kitchen, her entire demeanor had changed. Before she had been playful and teasing, now she was no nonsense and with a hint of, concern?

The change confused him but he was too tired to dwell on it further, instead opting to drift in and out of sleep. This lasted all of five minutes and was cut short when Anko placed a tray in front of him laden with tea and a pot to refill from when he had finished the cup, she also had a cup and without a word she sat across from him and began her tea ceremony before finally taking a deep sip and sighing with relief.

Naruto was astonished, Anko liked tea ceremonies? As out of character as this seemed to be he reasoned that everyone needs a break from their normal personality every now and then and there were worse vices out there. Sitting up he stared at the cup placed in front of him before tentatively tasting the brew. He was surprised to find it was excellent and quickly began to drink more enthusiastically, feeling the invigorating and calming effects spread through him.

Anko now stared at him trying to think of what to do next. She had no idea what to do, she had done what she did when she was feeling tired or ragged. From here it would all be guesswork. So Anko made a decision, act like normal.

"So what whooped you hard enough to make you like this?" This was the first question that came to mind, after all Naruto was a powerhouse and it must have been pretty intense to have him looking like this.

"Kakashi-senseis training, Jiji ordered him to try his hardest, I think I liked him better when he was lazy." Anko smirked at this, she knew what a competent shinobi Kakashi was and he cam from a long line of renowned teachers. All the way from the third Hokage to Jiraiya to Minato and down to him, if there were a better ninja to teach Naruto from this generation then he was hiding somewhere very hard to find.

"I bet that was fun, and i bet it was so much fun that you won't wanna do it for a long time, ya know, so you don't spoil the fun." By now she was giggling at his situation, a stark contrast to the person she had been before that had wanted to help him feel better any way she could.

"On the contrary, apparently we're going to be doing this every day, only longer and harder." At this Anko began openly laughing at him.

"Ha! Good luck with that, maybe i'll come and watch just for the fun of seeing someone else in pain." She was grinning like a madman as she said this and Naruto began feeling distinctly nervous at the evil aura coming off her in waves.

"Y-You wouldn't do that would you?" He stuttered out. Then his devious little mind began to formulate a payback plan for all the teasing she'd been doing to him lately. "After all if I'm this tired every day how will I make it fun for you during the nights? I'll be too tired for anything REALLY fun." He said, laying stress on the really to point out the double meaning of his words. At this Anko began blushing furiously, but she was a prank master too and far more comfortable with herself than he was. '_This means war'_

"Oh really Naruto-kun, and what might we being doing that would be so exhausting? Would it look a little like this?" She lunged forward and kissed him on the mouth before pulling back out of reach again. Naruto spluttered and tripped over words for a good minute before he could collect himself enough to glare accusingly at her.

"That was mean."

"Oh, I would have thought you would enjoy kissing me," she said with mock hurt in her voice," I guess I'll just stop now." She smirked thinking she had won.

"No, kissing me wasn't mean, stopping was." Now it was her turn to splutter as Naruto, claiming victory, walked away to shower leaving a blushing Anko behind before she could reply. "Goodnight Anko."

_'Hm, smooth line blondie but don't worry, i'll win next time.' _With a grin of anticipation she left and headed home to plot her counterattack.

**xXxXx**

That was fun! i kinda felt that last bit was a little forced but i was trying to show that Anko cares about Naruto now beyond teasing him enough to try and take care of him. At the same time ididn't want to show her as being one of those closet romantics where as soon as you get past her shell she starts fangirling all of you as so many fics do. In my opinion that's a fatal flaw, Anko is Anko and she's way more fun this way.

We're also about to see some serious training for the next month with more teachers to come and more NaruAnko fun! I'm looking forward to it, how about you guys? Now i just want to eliminate any concerns that Naruto is about to be all super powered, bear in mind that training really hard and attaining great power is very different to an insta OP Naruto. He is going to be believably powerful but still extremely strong when his training is complete which won't just be the month for the exams, this training period will extend beyond that.

Once again it's good to be back writing, i'm not sure how long it will be until my next chapter but most of my work is done so hopefully i'll be able to do a lot more and faster.

Until next time, Lord Kyuubi.


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